This article provides information on the latest posting of AMD’s software suite, AMD Catalyst™12.8. This particular software suite updates the AMD display driver and the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center and the AMD Vision Engine Control Center. This unified driver has been updated and is designed to provide enhanced performance and reliability.

The AMD Catalyst Control Center/AMD Vision Engine Control Center requires that the Microsoft® .NET Framework SP1 be installed for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Without .NET SP1 installed, the AMD Catalyst Control Center/AMD Vision Engine Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.

Notes.

When installing the AMD Catalyst driver for Windows operating system, the user must be logged on as Administrator or have Administrator rights to complete the installation of the AMD Catalyst driver. The Catalyst driver requires Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to be installed. These release notes provide information on the AMD display driver only. For information on the ATI Multimedia Center™, HydraVision, HydraVision Basic Edition, Remote Wonder™, or the Southbridge/IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: http://support.amd.com/. AMD Eyefinity technology is designed to give gamers access to high display resolutions. As pixel count grows, the graphics “horsepower” required to drive the displays at a reasonable frame rate can increase dramatically. Depending on the game and system configuration, users may notice texture corruption and reduced frame rates when running games in multi-monitor Eyefinity modes. Windows Driver Model (WDM) drivers are no longer bundled in the AMD Catalyst software suite. The WDM drivers install bundle can be downloaded independently through the AMD website.

Compatible Operating Systems

The latest version of the AMD Catalyst software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 12.8 software suite.

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System

Over/underscan settings are correctly restored on system reboot SolidWorks: Graphical corruption is no longer experienced Crysis Warhead: No longer crashes when launched in DirectX 10 mode System no longer hangs when resuming from sleep mode Audio is no longer disabled if the connected HDTV Is switched off/on Enabling dual graphics mode with a HD 7000 series product no longer displays green video playback Call of Duty- Black Ops : No longer hangs when loading a mission in DirectX 9 mode with Crossfire enabled Shogun 2: Flickering text is no longer experienced Star Wars – The Old Republic: In game cinematics no longer experience flicker when using the arrow keys Dirt Showdown: 8-Ball track no longer hangs with AMD Crossfire functionality enabled Max Payne 3: A black screen is no longer observed when launching game in DirectX 11 mode with AMD Crossfire functionality enabled Max Payne 3: Applying in game settings no longer causes the game to crash

Resolved Issues for the Windows 8 Operating System (These issues were found in the Catalyst driver for the Windows 8 Preview)

Video playback using the Metro video player no longer shows green corruption Deus Ex - Human Revolution: Graphics corruption is no longer experienced during in game cinematics with AMD Crossfire functionality enabled Battlefield 3: game no longer crashes when AMD Crossfire functionality is enabled Need for Speed – The Run: game no longer crashes to the desktop Blocky video corruption no longer seen when using VLC System no longer hangs when using PowerDVD Green video corruption is no longer seen when using various video players

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

QQ Dancer: A black screen is no longer randomly experienced

KNOWN ISSUES

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced with the AMD Catalyst 12.8 software suite.

Blocky corruption may be experienced when playing back Flash video content De-interlacing settings may not be applied to interlaced content when using MPC-HC and PowerDVD Civilization V: game may crash when run in DirectX 9 mode Total War – Shogun 2: game may experience random crashes Rage: game may experience random crashes

Known issues under the Windows XP operating system

Diablo 3/Starcraft 2/World of Warcraft: Performance may be affected when run in windowed mode